You are Christopher Phillips, previously just another teenage nerd living in a small English town, and a lot of things have changed in your life since you died.

You’ve faced down werewolves and laughed in the face of demonic threats. You’ve bargained with ancient forest spirits and gone from a socially inept nerd to someone capable of staring down the most popular girl in school.

For all your outward cool, however, you’re getting worried. Your best friend, Jill White, is missing. She hasn’t come to your usual lunch spot, and neither you nor anyone you ask has seen her all day. Her aunt, Miranda (who, by a strange coincidence that is certainly nothing to do with unscrupulous use of magical glamours, is also one of your teachers), is nowhere to be found either, but when Jill misses her Chemistry class, you know this isn’t just a private lesson. Something is definitely wrong.

You glance to your left. Avril, your girlfriend, is looking down at her hands, and occasionally biting her nails. You suspect that she’s thinking back to the last time something like this happened, when it was her that disappeared unexpectedly. Surely this time it won’t be quite so traumatic. Surely there’s a reasonable explanation. Jill is just feeling unwell. Or she slept in. Or she’s somewhere in the library, so caught up in a book that she’s forgotten about class.

Surely.

Chemistry passes by in a blur of nerves. Avril has bitten all of her nails right down to the quick. She doesn’t speak, and she looks so tense that you feel uncomfortable breaking the silence. If she is thinking about the events of three weeks ago, you’re not sure anything you could say would really help. When the bell goes, she unfolds from her seat like a marionette and walks out silently, leaving half her books on the table. By the time you’ve gathered everything up and followed her out, you find Avril sitting on the same bench that you normally have lunch on, staring at the grass.

>>27316740“Avril?” You put your hand gently on her shoulder, and she starts.

“Chris? Sorry, I was just...” She trails off, turning back to the grass.

“Come on. Let’s go find Jill. Get up.” At your command, Avril woodenly pulls herself to her feet, still staring off into the distance.

Where do you want to start looking?

[]If Jill’s not at school, she might be at home. And her mother is definitely not to be trusted. Go to Jill’s house.[]Miranda is missing too. Maybe the two are connected. Go to Miss White’s house. See if she knows what’s going on.[]Try the town library. It’s Jill’s favourite place to hide from the world. She always used to meet you there, and vice versa.[]Don’t you have Jill’s phone number? Heck, you gave her that phone in the first place, a little piece of independence from her mother. Give her a text and see if she replies.[]Other

((Archives are located at http://archive.foolz.us/tg/search/subject/monsterhearts%20quest/type/op/order/asc/and also athttp://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?tags=Monsterhearts%20Quest ))

>>27316745[X]Don’t you have Jill’s phone number? Heck, you gave her that phone in the first place, a little piece of independence from her mother. Give her a text and see if she replies.If that doesn't work:[X]Miranda is missing too. Maybe the two are connected. Go to Miss White’s house. See if she knows what’s going on.

>>27316832If Jill was in trouble and had her phone then she would have called or texted us. The fact that she hasn't, means that someone probably has it, and if we send something to the phone it'll likely get found or intercepted.

[]Don’t you have Jill’s phone number? Heck, you gave her that phone in the first place, a little piece of independence from her mother. Give her a text and see if she replies.-[X] Try to pass it off as a teacher worried with her student.

>>27316745>]If Jill’s not at school, she might be at home. And her mother is definitely not to be trusted. Go to Jill’s house.>[]Miranda is missing too. Maybe the two are connected. Go to Miss White’s house. See if she knows what’s going on.

>>27316937Not really. Because the fact that she hasn't called, and if she is kidnapped, means that the kidnappers don't know that she has her phone. Otherwise, they would have already taken it, and called us in order to make their demands.

Calling her now could reveal the phone's existence when she can't get to it or use it, and would result in Jill losing a way to contact us.

>>27317083Paranoid? We already have Jason who took Avril hostage, and his boss is putting more pressure on him to deliver us by any means necessary.And then there's Jill's mom, who probably was able to tell that she lost her virginity by the change in Jill's stride.

>>27317160You fire off a quick text to Jill's phone, asking her how things are going. There's no response.

You head towards Miss White's place, Avril following listlessly behind you. The first couple of knocks go unanswered, but after a while Miranda opens the door. She's wearing a dressing gown and looks a little dazed.

"Chris? Avril? Come in, come in." She waves the two of you in, shutting the door behind you, and looks you up and down. "Is it time for school already? You really didn't need to stop by just to fetch me, you know, I can make it to school on my own."

"Uh, Miss White, you missed school. It's almost five pm. Have you just been asleep all day?"

She blushes, pulling her gown closed. "Uh, something like that. Did I really miss school? Oh dear. I didn't have any classes to teach today, but it's still rather embarrassing. I'll have to call and apologise." She pats you on the shoulder, giving you a sly smile. "Nice work with Jill, though. I could feel it from halfway across town. That girl has a truly terrifying amount of psychic power, but it does have its upsides."

Miranda frowns. "Missing? I can try, I guess, but it's not like Jill is a lighthouse. She was only projecting her emotions last night because of her intense emotional state. I don't feel anything like that now. Which is sort of good, or I might still be having, um, difficulty focusing, but it also means I don't have any more of any idea where she is than you do. Picking up on her ambient emotions would require me to be a lot closer to her, like, within arms' reach. We can use my car, though. Just let me get dressed."

You glance over at Avril as Miss White hurries upstairs to put some clothes on. She doesn't seem to have registered any of the conversation. She's staring at the floor, her expression blank.

Miss White comes back downstairs, her car keys dangling from one hand. "Okay, where to?"

>>27317633"Miranda, focus here. Jill was projecting an incredible amount of psychic power? Could her mother have taken her? "Can you have the school and one of the other teachers call up her mother asking for Jill? We know you can't call her."

>>27317991"Miranda, can you have the school call her mother, asking for Jill? Seeing as she didn't come to school, it'd only be natural for a teacher or a friend to ask if she's okay, right?"

Miranda checks her watch. "Most of the school will have gone home by now, but I'll give it a try. You think this is Margaret's fault, then?" She frowns. "I suppose I wouldn't put it past her. At the very least, she might know where Jill's gone."

"Okay. One other thing - Jill was projecting an incredible amount of psychic power last night, you said?"

Miranda smiles. "Mmm, absolutely. Like I said, I could feel it from across town. Very distracting, too. Hence why I ended up missing school."

"Focus, Miranda. Your psychic stuff runs in the blood, doesn't it? Could Jill's mother have felt any of what you felt?"

Miranda stops dead, going pale. "I... really, really hope not. She shouldn't have been able to. Margaret completely abandoned that side of herself, let her powers fade away. But Jill is extremely powerful, and being around you just seems to be making her powers stronger and stronger. I really don't know."

She tosses her car keys from one hand to the other, gesturing to the door with her free hand. "Let's move. If what you're thinking has any truth to it at all, Jill could be in a lot of trouble."

You glance over at Avril. "Wait a second. Mrs White is going to recognise you on sight, and she'll never let a boy in to see Jill. Avril, can you change your hair colour? Avril?"

Avril raises one hand and waves it over her hair. Instantly it's a dark, natural brown. It's almost the colour of bark, but it's a lot less obviously unnatural than her previous bright green. Then she follows you out to the car. Miss White gives her an odd look, but says nothing.

>>27318361You pull up fairly quickly outside Jill's house. Avril gets out and walks up to the door, while you and Miranda watch from a distance. She knocks twice, and a stern-looking woman in her 30s or 40s, with a vague resemblance to Miranda, opens the door. Without a word, Avril reaches up and taps her on the forehead, and Mrs White topples over backwards, apparently unconscious.

>>27318662You head up to the house as quickly as possible, Miranda running alongside you. She crouches down and checks on Mrs White while you pull Avril to one side.

"She's breathing," Miranda announces, "but she's out cold."

"Avril, what the hell did you do?"

Some animation finally comes over Avril's face. Her eyes are cold and angry, and she looks down at Mrs White's prone body as she snarls, "Justice."

"Justice for what? You didn't give her a chance to do anything. Avril, what's -"

She turns to you, eyes blazing with anger. "For everything she did to Jill, for every time she laid a single finger on the girl she should have cared for and protected. Not that you'd understand a thing about that."

Avril walks over to where Mrs White is lying, spits on her, and then turns on her heel and walks out of the house without another word.

Miranda gets up, looking around. The inside of the house is fairly plain, decorated primarily with pictures of Jesus in various styles. Jill is nowhere to be seen.

"One of us really ought to go after her," Miranda says. "I don't think letting her wander the streets in that state is going to end well."

[]Go look for Jill, and ask Miranda to calm Avril down[]Jill will trust her aunt more. Go after Avril yourself.[]Maybe you'll have a better chance to calm Avril down if both of you go?[]Find Jill first, then go after Avril.[]Other

>>27318961go after avril. tell miranda you'll join her after talking to avril and to call you as soon as she finds something about jill.it seems we'll have to go somewhat hard on avril in order to share her out of this. be imperative.

The house isn't that big, but the more you look, the more creeped out you start to get by all those pictures. You feel like you're being watched all the time. The eyes of the pictures aren't actually moving, you're fairly sure. It's just one of those weird optical illusions.

"Jill? Jill, it's Chris. Where are you? Can you hear me?"

No response. You look around again. Upstairs, maybe. One of the doors upstairs is closed, and you knock on it.

"Jill? Open the door, Jill."

There's a quiet creak, and you can just about hear Jill whispering "It's not locked." You push the door open.

Jill is sitting on a small bed, curled up and clutching her knees. All around her, on the bed and on the floor, are the shredded remains of her red dress. It looks like it's been cut to pieces with the pair of scissors lying on the chest of drawers, next to a smashed cell phone. She's sobbing quietly.

"Jill? Come on, we need to get you out of here. Let's get you somewhere nice and safe." You put your hand on Jill's shoulder, but she flinches away. "Jill?"

Jill slowly uncurls a little, looking up at you. There's a nasty bruise on the side of her face. "I c-c-c-can't go anywhere, Chris. I don't deserve to. I'm just a sinner, a dirty sinner. She told me. I can't, I can't..."

>>27319779I think we ought to go full darkside on mom. someone needs to be too scared hurt jill again, and if we could get Jill outta there permaneantly all the better. Just wait for mom to wake up then have a nice little 1 on 1 with her.

>>27319779"Jill, look at me love, that's not true. I know you think it is, I know she told you a whole lot of nasty, vile little things to believe about what we did, about you. But Jill, I know it's hard, but believe me, they aren't true." If - IF - she's calming down or ant least listening, try to gently put one of our hands on hers. If she pulls away that's fine, hopefully she won't. "What you are is a bright and passionate young woman who is special, and whom I love. And what we did with Avril, that was special to. Don't let someone else make it vile for you Jill, please, don't let them do that to you."

(all right, I'm out of ideas for where to go with this and I seriously need to go get something for dinner. I'd say we should get Avril and Miranda involved soon and make damn sure that 1) Avril doesn't kill Jill's mom, tempting though that is and 2) Jill doesn't see her unconscious mother when we get her the fuck out on this little corner of hell on earth.

>>27319779Jill, look at me, you know me, you love me, right? would I love you if you were dirty, a bad person? Because I do love you, and that's why we're getting you out of here, we're going to my house. you'll be safe there.

>>27320306True, I'm just not sure Jill won't cover for her mother. Yeah, I no that idea doesn't make sense to you or me, but victims of abuse that have been complicit in hiding it for years sometimes do things I, to be blunt, do not understand for their abusers. Hopefully the cops will see that the bruise is a day old, find out that she didn't come to school and suspicion won't be pointed at us because we're bringing her in...I'm just cautioning your expectations that any of this situation will be spare solved in a logical fashion.

>>27320413Well, what year exactly is this taking place in?From what we've been shown, it is very close to the present; given the recent child abuse cases that have made the news in England and on the BBC, I think we stand a good chance of the local authorities erring on the side of "beat the shit out of the abusive mother" because they're afraid of being in the spotlight of another Daniel Pelka case.

>>27320528Ok, checked out the cliff notes version, not sure how informative it would actually be given that massive differences between the victims, circumstances and, well, everything. But let me say that if a horror like that actually motivates the public servants in England to do a better job, to actually do a better job and not just try to better cover their own asses, then I guess they're probably doing something closer to right over there than we are.

The obvious caveat here is the simple fact that I know almost nothing a about what I'm talking about.

"Jill, look at me. Come on, you know me, look at me, listen to me." You crouch down next to the bed, your eyes level with Jill's. She turns her head a little, looking slightly past you.

"Jill, come on. I love you. You're not a sinner, you're not a bad person. That's not true, I know you think it is, I know she told you all those nasty, vile things, but they're not true, believe me." You reach out and gently put one of your hands over one of Jill's. "If you were a bad person, would I love you? Because I do love you, and that's why we're getting you out of here. Come on."

Jill shakes her head. "I can't, Chris, please, I can't..."

"Yes, you can. You're a bright, passionate, wonderful young woman, and I love you, and so does Avril." Jill blinks a little at the mention of Avril's name, and stops rocking. "That's right. Come on, I need you to get up. Avril needs you to get up. Stand up, Jill."

With a slightly awkward, jerky motion, Jill unfolds from the bed, suddenly towering over you. You cast about for something for her to wear, only realising once she's stood up that she's actually naked, and give her a plain-looking dress, which she shrugs on without words.

"Okay, Jill. Follow me." You lead her slowly down the stairs, hand in hand. You're not sure how you're going to explain her mother lying in the doorway, but the good news is that Mrs White is no longer lying in the doorway. The bad news is that Mrs White is no longer lying in the doorway. You can't see her anywhere, in fact.

You pull out your phone. "Jill, I'm going to call the police, okay? We have to tell someone about this." Jill flinches when you hold up your phone, but doesn't speak. That's worryingly similar to how Avril was behaving.

"Jill, tell me what's wrong. Talk to me."

"I, I don't know. I don't want to go anywhere, I just want to curl up and hide, but I need to go and protect Avril. And, and I need to follow you, you said so. I don't know what to do, Chris. Help me."

>>27320739Hmm, ok, I'm going to have to go back and reread all the stuff on Jill's situation because while I thought her mother's abuse was frequent, painful and emotionally crippling, I did not think she left sufficient physical proof (broken or fractured bones, scaring, that kind of thing) for us to make thee long term case. If we can prove, not give hearsay but prove that record of abuse, then we're golden. I'm not sure whether I hope spthat she has that provable record for us to show the cops.

Ok, I'm not sure she can handle it yet, but I think we should get her to tell us what happened after we dropped her off at home. Just tell her to tell the truth, tell her she's safe and that she won't be hurt again. Also, use our cell to record her side of the story. That's what I think we should do, but I admit it could easily blow up in our face.

>>27320957We should probably belay the whole calling the cops thing until we know what happened to Mrs. White. For all we know Jill's mom is in the kitchen grabbing a knife to attack her daughter with, or Avril is bursting her in the backyard. What we should do is take Jill to the nearest police station, or one that Avril's dad might have some influence over.

>>27320980While getting her testimony on record is important, I'm more worried by the disappearance of Jill's mother. Consider the fact that she's been exposed to these super-charging energy fields that Jill has been exposed. In just a few days, Miranda experienced a super-charging of her powers; Jill's mother could have gotten the same, especially since it seems that she felt Jill's release of psychic energy.

>>27321032But wouldn't the sound of Mrs. White attacking us while we're talking with the police give more credence to our story? And we have both 'Faster, Stronger, Tougher' and the perk that let's us get back up after fatal wounds. We can take a knife to the heart.

>>27321072Yeah, I was using the knife attack as one end of a spectrum covering every conceivable thing that could be going on with Jill's mom. Personally I'd like to think Miranda and Avril took turns kicking her back into consciousness then knocking her out again until they got too tired to continue, then threw her in the trunk of her own car which our girlfriend and teacher are awaiting us in. We don't know and it may be incriminating for us is what I'm trying to say.

>>27321285As far as I can tell she shredded the dress, smashed the phone, smacked Jill around some, then proceeded to verbally abuse the bejeesus out of her. Nothing supernatural I doubt but certainly enough to emotionally cripple a teenage girl, especially one like Jill

>>27321435Jill's mother is from a family with latent psychic power. Jill's is expressed as telekinesis, but her mother could easily have a more subtle and insidious effect- one she may not even be aware of- but which works directly on other people's minds.

>>27321435>Nothing supernaturalKeep in mind that Jill's mom has psychic power that she has never practiced with or tried to control except as far as not using it, which seems to be its default setting for their bloodline.

>>27321450Yeah, we need to be real careful about it if we go that route.

>>27321417Our Darkest Self is an incompetent, arrogant, asshole who I wouldn't trust to dig his own grave with a shovel.

>>27321501>we have only experienced telekinetic manifestations of psychic powerExcept that Miranda JUST told us that Jill had a massive eruption of psychic energy she could feel from across town. So no, telekinetic manifestations is NOT the only manifestation we have experienced, and there IS evidence to the other claim.

Jill seems to know exactly where she's going, so you follow her while you fiddle with your phone. The first operator you get through to tells you in a rather snide tone that if no-one is actively being stabbed or robbed right this second, you ought to be using the non-emergency number instead of 999, and transfers you across before you can say anything more. You spend a while waiting on hold, and then try to explain the situation to a second, distinctly bored-sounding operator, who tells you that a policeman will be coming round to your address at some point in the next few hours to take your statement. Then he hangs up on you.

Well, that was productive. You consider phoning Child Services as well, but realise you have no idea what number to ring and no particular inclination to sit through yet more awful hold music when you've got an unstable Fae to find.

Jill seems to be doing much better than you, at least. She's marching confidently, if a little stiffly, ahead. A few more turns, and you're looking at the paths which lead into the forest.

Through the trees ahead you catch a glimpse of Avril. Her hair is now a bright, fiery red, and she's arguing with a familiar-looking, incredibly gorgeous blonde woman in a sheer white dress. One of the courtiers from the feast? The argument seems to be getting pretty heated. As you get closer, you catch the occasional shouted word, 'justice' and 'bond' in particular.

Jill walks straight up to Avril, puts one hand on her shoulder, and turns to stare at the blonde woman. That stare is apparently enough to throw the blonde woman halfway across the clearing, and she sits up, brushing leaves off her dress, and turns to you.

>>27321598Doesn't confirm, but it's possible and the way she's reacting to us is not in keeping with mundane forms of trauma.

>>27321603He doesn't really seem incompetent. He's not a great guy by any means but we might need his help here. We can't go asking the King of Spring for help here, and he's the only other contact we have on an appropriate power level.

>>27321598Hmm, just want to point out that I'm not advocating mind control (because I think the teas prevented that), just that Jill's mom systemically attacked and unmade parts of her daughter's psyche.

>>27321631Iokfor the sake of covering our bases lets say she does have some sort of influencial powers, so do we, and WE have been making extensive use of ours, while to the best of our knowledge Jill's mother has likely allowed hers to atrophy. We dont owe this women any favors, lets rebalance the scales some.

>>27321417>figure a way to get him toYou know, all you have to do is ask.>>27321631>He's not a great guy by any meansWell, now. Have I ever been anything but polite to you? I'm a marvellous guy if you just listen once in a while.

>>27321676>Jill's is expressed as telekinesis, but her mother could easily have a more subtle and insidious effect- one she may not even be aware of- but which works directly on other people's minds.In what way does this NOT sound like some form of mind control, based on what you described? Obviously its no Professor X power but its certainly in the same vein.

>>27321621"Avril, Miranda, what are you arguing about?"And Jill, was it REALLY necessary to throw your aunt halfway across the clearing?"Look, the police have been called, and so long as things happen in an urban environment we have to go through mortal channels. Miranda, we're going to probably need your testimony; my persuasive skills can't just change a bureaucratic process, and they'll take the word of an adult more seriously than a teenager's."

"Avril, we've got Jill but I think her mother did something to her mind, and I... /she/ needs you calm and collected to deal with it. I've called the police, and I want to take Jill home. We will /get/ Jill out of her mother's house and we put that awful woman through the fucking /wringer/, but right now Jill's safety is more important than revenge. Can I rely on you to help me fix whatever messed up shit Jil's mother has done to her, or are you going pursue this vendetta right this instant? Because we both need you, and whatever you decide Jill and I need to be at home when the cops show up."

>>27321693I vote that we ask for information but hold off on asking for help for the moment. We need to know how best to help Jill without breaking her further before we act. I'm guessing we'll need to reforge some of our bonds to her given what Avril seems to have been saying.

>>27321786He'll take any opportunity to grab more power for himself, though; I mean, that's pretty much his thing. I wouldn't put it past him to tell us the only way to save Jill is to relinquish some control to him, simply because we asked.

>>27321621"Avril, what's done is done. And while it will be answered in full, right now that's secondary to helping our girlfriend. I know what you're feeling, and I know it sucks but now isn't the time."

>>27321883>at the end of that day he has OUR mutual profit as his priorityNot really; he has his own profit as his priority. He wants to gain more control over us, and improving our situation because it will become his own is just a bonus.

>>27321900Does he have to "lie"? Couldn't he just selectively share information and offer speculations that, while accurate, frame things from a perspective he wants to manipulate us towards? Lying is generally the result of failure to make convincing arguments,

>>27322006Honest question. Was I really so unclear that you felt the need to repackage my point and shoot it back my way? Not meaning any insult here, just wondering since this is not the first time this has happened.

>>27321790Theoretically, IS we wanted to extend our control over Jill, now would be the perfect chance, vulnerable as she is right now. Besides Avril already has her hooks in jill, were at a disadvantage if things were to ever go south in the current power balance

>>27322138I...sympathize with this point of view. Unfortunately I think the time for unilateral action on our part to take advantage of this situation has passed. I don't think it sends the right message to Avril if we publicly bind Jill to just us instead of to both ourself and Avril. Remember that we're in the forest right now, the court is watching, including Avril's daddy.

>>27321955"Uh, Miranda?" You glance over at the blonde woman, and she nods. "Okay, what's going on? Avril, Miranda, what were you arguing about?"

"Avril's decided that good old human decency, good manners and friendship aren't sufficient," Miranda replies. "She's going to get her father to lay a geas on pretty much anyone she can think of, to make betrayal, violence and so on fairly literally unthinkable. I've been trying to explain to her that this is something of an overreaction."

You glance over at Jill, who's staring at Miranda, apparently waiting for her to make a move, and at Avril, who's now looking at you, her eyes the same orange-red colour as her hair.

"Do you deny it?" Avril asks you, strange undertones in her voice. "Humans in their natural state are cruel to each other constantly. They lie, cheat, steal, abuse each other, they... betray trusts given to them." She visibly flinches at that last one. "Only through contracts can they be forced to behave the way that they should. Look at Jill." Avril raises her hand to softly stroke the bruise on Jill's cheek. "Can you say it would be wrong for her mother to have been prevented from harming her so?"

"Avril, I... look, can we have the philosophy discussion later? We need to help Jill. I called the police already, and I'm going to need Jill and Miranda with me to help make sure we keep Jill safe. I think Jill's mother may have done something to her mind, and I need... Jill needs you calm and collected to help her. Now, are you going to keep pursuing this geas business, or are you going to help me help Jill?"

Avril stares at you for a moment, then shakes her head. "I *am* helping Jill. I can protect her far more effectively than a group of mortal policemen can. One simple binding ritual and her mother will never be an issue again. Then one for Isabella. One for Zack. One for you. As many as it takes to protect her. To protect me. To protect all of us."

>>27322547You will have to kill me first Avril, I won't accept such a binding, and we both know that the binding cannot be forced, I love you, and I love her, I want you both to be safe, but this is not the way.

>>27322547You don’t seem to be getting through to her. You need some help here.

“All you have to do is ask,” whispers a voice in the back of your head.

This is probably a terrible idea. But you’re running low on options. All right, then. How can you help?

“For starters, I can remind you that the same trick she wants to use on everyone else will work on her. She bound herself to you; that gives you power over her, if you know the right words. By oak, elm and holly. By rowan, ash and yew. You can calm her down, make her listen.”

And what do you want in return?

“Oh, come now, kid. I’m not some fairy to bargain and haggle. I’m your partner. Partners help each other out. We’re closer than partners, even - we’re one soul. What would be the point in me owing a debt to myself?”

You clear your throat, and step towards Avril. “By oak, elm and holly. By rowan, ash and yew.” Avril goes completely still, like a deer in headlights. “Avril, calm down and listen to me. I need you to help me with whatever happened to Jill’s mind, all right? Can you do that for me?”

Avril takes a deep breath, and relaxes with a sigh. “Yes, sir, I can do that.” She blinks, and her eyes are their usual deep green. “Jill, sit. Miranda, come here, you’re the expert.”

Miranda comes and kneels next to Jill, and starts running her hands over Jill’s scalp. “Your father really did a number on Jill’s head, didn’t he? Underneath the geas she’s been emotionally and physically traumatised by her mother. She’ll come out of it on her own eventually, but in the meantime the geas is running her body for her. She needs rest and sleep, and people who care for her around her when she wakes.” She looks up at you. “Chris, you said something about the police? Jill’s not in any state to give a witness statement right now, but I might be able to divert them for a while. You’re taking her home, right? Or is there something else you want to do first?"

>>27322643I'm pretty sure we just saw her darkest self. I don't think it's going to be an issue most of the time- we keep a pretty tight lid on ours now, and hopefully after this she'll have something of an understanding of how the best intentions can go horribly wrong, as they did in our case. It's not an excuse, but is something of a mitigating factor.

>>27322637"Home. My home. Avril, please come with us. It's not an order, but I'd feel better if you were there, and Jill will too when she wakes up. We /will/ see justice done, but it will be a justice Jill can look at without cringing. What you would have done to us is no different than what her mother would do to her."

"I can take care of Jill for now. I'd like for Avril to be around as well."

"And Avril. When you let yourself lose control like that, even if all you want is to help someone dear to you, even if you believe you're doing something good at first...in the end, things happens and people get hurt. I know that, by experience."

>>27322749She's fae. Don't apply "people" (by that I assume you mean human, or at least those whose thoughts and motives can be understood and rationalized by humans) standards to creatures that perceive reality in an entirely different way. Doing so will eventually get Chris killed or enslaved.

>>27323279And what we just did is exactly what Avril wants to be able to pull, what she wants any victim to be able to pull, on her aggressor. The only difference is the volition in accepting the binding in the first place. I doubt she really cares or ever will really care about human consent for that.

>>27322933"Yeah, we're going home. My home, that is. I can take care of Jill for now. Avril, this isn't an order, but I'd like for you to come with us. I'd feel better if you were there, and so will Jill when she wakes up. We *will* see justice done for Jill, but it'll be a justice that Jill can look at without cringing."

You and Miranda help Jill to her feet. She's still moving with the stiff, almost robotic movements she was using before. Avril takes her by the hand and leads her out of the forest, with you and Miranda supporting Jill on either side. As you leave the forest, Miranda's glamour shimmers and fades away, the impossibly beautiful woman in the completely transparent dress being replaced by her more human appearance and a fairly conservative grey suit.

Your mother is understandably surprised to encounter this small procession on her doorstep, but her tune changes as soon as you point out the bruise on Jill's face. Your father is already halfway through calling the police when you tell him you've already done so, and gives you a manly pat on the back for forward thinking. Jill is laid down on one of the sofas and you and Avril watch her while your parents and Miss White have some coffee in the kitchen and have a hushed discussion that they think you don't know about. You're not close enough to overhear what they're talking about, but Miranda will give you the gist of it later, and keeping a close eye on Jill as she sleeps is more important than eavesdropping.

Avril is slumped on the floor next to the sofa, holding one of Jill's hands. She looks physically and mentally exhausted.

"Avril?" you ask. "How are you feeling?"

"I don't know. Overwhelmed. I just... I just wanted to help. To do something that would really change things for the better."

"That's what happens when you let yourself lose control like that. Even if you just want to help, even if you've got the best of intentions, in the end, people get hurt. There's no way around it."

You nod quietly, placing one hand gently on Avril’s shoulder. She flinches for a moment, but then relaxes and leans into your hand. “I just wanted to help her. To do *something* about that awful woman who calls herself a mother and yet violates every duty of a parent. I care so much about Jill. About you too, of course, but I guess you’ve just shown you don’t really need protecting. I wonder why my father made Jill my bodyguard, and not you. Maybe he was trying to protect her too.”

By the time a pair of policemen finally turn up to take your statements, your parents have turned in for the night, but Jill is still fast asleep. You, Avril and Miranda give carefully edited versions of your discovery of Jill, with Mrs White never appearing and you discovering the spare front door key under the doormat (the three of you having come to the consensus that telling two police officers “we knocked her mother out with faerie magic” would not go over well). They promise you that they’ll get back to you with the results of their investigation, which apparently may take a few weeks. Or a few months. They can’t be certain how long it’ll take until it’s completed, you see. Terribly sorry, sir. Can’t be helped. Thank you for your time.

Jill is still fast asleep on the sofa. Is there anything more you want to do tonight, or is it time to sleep until Saturday rolls around?

>>27323345Move her into our bed and take the sofa ourselves. Or maybe a chair in our room, in case she wakes up in a strange bed in the middle of the night. As Avril if she wants to stay over; she can share the bed with Jill if need be, though we should warn her not to snuggle too close, again in case Jill wakes up freaked out.

>>27323345Well, it's probably best not to move her if Jill is already comfortably asleep. Grab a couple cots or sleeping pads for Avril, Miranda and us to rotate between and pull up a chair. We're keeping vigil over her tonight. I vote we take first watch.

>>27323632To be clear, I want a vigil less for the expectation of danger and more because I think it will do Jill a world of good if one of us is awake and ready to talk to her or just reassure her whenever she wakes up.

>>27323695You consider moving Jill, but she looks like she's managed to make herself fairly comfortable on the sofa, so you bring some cushions, blankets and pillows downstairs instead. Miranda and Avril curl up in a large pile of sleeping materials, and you sit yourself in a nice cushioned chair where you can watch Jill fairly clearly without drifting... off... to... sleep...

Someone pats you on the back. "Don't worry," says the man in the white suit, "I can take a watch for you. Your body won't get as much sleep as it ought to, but there's time enough for a lie in tomorrow, and your mind definitely needs some rest. Get some sleep. I won't let anything happen to her. She's ours."

Sleep sounds quite tempting, really. Not too much sleep, of course. You'll just close your eyes for a second. Just for a second...

>>27323786((Good night, everyone, and I'll see you all next Tuesday, roughly the same time as usual, and hopefully a bit earlier than today's thread, unless the spam filter starts playing up again. As always, questions, comments, etc. below.))

>>27323786You had one job Chris, to wake either Miranda or Avril up and have them take over if you couldn't keep the watch. Well, I guess this will be a good test of our Darkest Self's impulse control...

>>27323786>Sleep sounds quite tempting, really. Not too much sleep, of course. You'll just close your eyes for a second. Just for a second...No, we are not letting damned darkest self take over. Wake Miranda and then go to sleep.

>>27323800>No, we are not letting damned darkest self take over. Wake Miranda and then go to sleep.WOW. Drama. I just read all the archives and caught the end of this. Seriously concerned about whats gonna happen next :/ and this is at the parents house... I've had to deal with CYS before and let me say shes probably gonna need to go back home at some point. I mean it would be for the best if she were under the protection of Miranda but unless her mother doesn't pursue where her further... Then again at sixteen maybe you can decide to live at your aunts in england? Not so in the States..

>>27325945the process is incredibly difficult though. you need to have a job and a way to support yourself, and plenty of hearings. possible, but they would rather put you with a family member or send you into foster.

>>27326049and the parent needs to legally sign their parenting rights away too regardless i think. getting a child away from their parents home just doesn't happen. And like it said the investigation could take months.

I mean, he is literally us. He is not trying to screw us over in any way. For example, the only time we have ever used Darkest Self was when we were fighting those men. After the fight, we had the option to bind the men into our service, rape Avril, or take a string on the drug dealer. The vote was rape.

That was not our Darkest Self, that was all of us. Blaming that on our power is immature and escapist.

You argue that our Darkest Self has no control and is just hungry, but that's not it at all. Every single thing they suggest is thought out and always ends up helping. Hell, our Darkest Self has more fine control over Chris than we do.

We are a ghoul. We don't need to be our Darkest Self, but we shouldn't be mindlessly afraid of it because of our own fuck up. Plus, we can still white knight to your hearts content even if we act more ghoul than usual. We just need a goal to point him at.

My point, don't be afraid of who we are. It's a a monster quest for a reason. Sure, let our Darkest Self take over watch for the night, because I'm sure it will do nothing that we ourselves would not permit in the long run.

>>27328413>Every single thing they suggest is thought out and always ends up helpingHow many things have they actually suggested?This is the only time that we actually asked our Darkest Self for a suggestion. It's only interactions with us before this were two times it talked to us in our dreams, and via our Hungers.

Our Darkest Self views itself as the real Christopher, as the source of our powers, and is just biding his time for now. He's like the Deep One self incubating inside Masami, and views us as a useful, but ultimately expendable, disguise. He has a professional interest in our well-being, and Avril going all bind-happy with her Fae contracts would have been detrimental to him and his plans, which is world conquest.

>Because my patience isn’t infinite. Sooner or later, I’m going to take matters into my own hands. Again.Darkest Self's own words, and threat to take control.

>>

The Man In The Tailored White (...)!k8C5uWf90cMonsterhearts Quest 2909/20/13(Fri)14:56 No.27330930

>>27329263>This is the only time that we actually asked our Darkest Self for a suggestion. It's only interactions with us before this were two times it talked to us in our dreams, and via our Hungers.All you had to do was ask. And weren't those dreams helpful to you, too?

As for the other matter... well, imagine you have this friend. And you can see all the potential he has, all the great things he can do, but he just wants to sit around on his couch all day surfing the internet. Sure, giving him a bit of a kick up the behind to get him up and moving is mean. But in the long run, it's good for him. If you can see that you know better than someone else about what's good for them, don't you have a duty to step in and help them?

I've only got our best interests in heart. I'm not going to discard my partner. But if my partner just sits around wasting his time, well, a man has to do something to help him out. For his own good, you understand.

((Wow, I didn't expect this thread to still be up and running over twelve hours later. If anyone has any questions or anything, I have a bit of free time to hang around and answer things.))

>>27330930I do have a few questions, though whether you'll answer them is uncertain.

1. What year is it, or can you at least say it's after certain events? I think you were asked this before, and you were vague on the answer. I'd like to know because there are certain news items a little relevant to Jill's case that could be used to badger Child Services with.

2. I've done a cursory search back through the archives, and in both instances that our Darkest Self talked directly with us, it wanted us to go out and pick fights with the other powers here in town or to even go up to a bigger city and begin trying to play in the big leagues. Has he tried to do anything else with us, or have his interactions with us consisted solely of pushing us to attempt things that are risky for us in a world that we know can kill us?I mean, in one instance he's ridiculing us for using a safe means of acquiring power, and in the next he's exhorting us to acquire power through violence and force.

1) It's, eh, say 2013. Late April. I'm aware of the news items in question. You may notice that they keep being reported in the news in dramatic and shocking fashion, and then they keep happening, over and over again. And that's with extremely young children with years of well-documented physical abuse, not with a sixteen-year-old with one bruise.

2) The only substantial conversations you've had with the Man in the White Suit (apart from in this thread) have been in threads 12 and 25 And none of them have been particularly long and involved, really. You could probably have a more substantial chat with him if you wanted.

>>27331183People with laptops who are too lazy to get up and go to a table.))

>>27331085Pretty sure the Darkest Self just wants us to stop ignoring plot hooks. And he's kind of right, the tentacle gangster that may or may not be posessing Isabella is kind of a huge fucking deal. The Winter King isn't trivial either, although he's a less immediate threat since Ajani and friends are on that. But we seriously do need to deal with a probable enemy becoming very powerful.

>>27331183>>27331217>People with laptops who are too lazy to get up and go to a tableIt could also be a person that their HTPC is also beefy enough to be a fairly good gaming rig and stays on the couch because their HTPC with the 50-inch TV is their primary machine.

>>27331240The Corruptor is immediately on our list of things to take care of, that's why we've been working our way into Ajani's group and befriending Zack, who has the potential to be a very useful attack dog.Without the money and connections to simply hire mercenaries or some low-level thugs, we need to spend time to get mooks.

Or are you suggesting, like the Darkest Self was, that we simply go out and try to attack the Corruptor openly and head-on?

Also, even though we used muscle strength when necessary, we created a character that chooses subtle ways to solve problems. This was one of the main reason why we never go around beating shit out of bella's or corruptor's followers. And i wouldn't want to change that side of Chris now. Punching and rolling around in dirt and blood has been the last choice, and it should stay that way.

>>27331460We're a social build, not a tank or combat build?We already saw how we only won against Zack's werewolf form when he was weakened to near-death and had his one weakness. The Corruptor is known to avoid physical combat itself and is expected to have combat-heavy minions. We might be able to fight against mundane mooks, but not if they have guns or cricket bats, and we weren't exactly that great against even the undead husk mooks of the Winter King.